Premier Ford has held a news conference Thursday in which he defended the cost of cancelling wind turbine projects in eastern and southwestern Ontario farm communities. He called the towers, which are deeply unpopular among non-urban voters, “terrible, terrible wind turbines.” Clips from City News below:

• Turbines
• Meeting Trudeau
• Says he’ll learn French

A well-mannered but clueless young woman has been recorded asking a Halton Regional Police 911 operator if the police offer emergency rides for those who are late for their train. When told that such a service is absolutely not available, the girl says “My apologies.” You can hear it here.

As Captain Kirk

Governor General Julie Payette has given the Order of Canada medal to 39 people Thursday at Rideau Hall. One is William Shatner, whose remarkable 60-year acting career has seen him play roles ranging from Captain Kirk to reprobate lawyer Denny Crane in Boston Legal. Also honoured are writer Ann-Marie MacDonald and lawyer James Lockyer. Mathematician Robert Langlands, filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin and actor Donald Sutherland are also being made companions of the order, the most prestigious of its three levels.

Carl Hantske of 680 News offers a vivid description of the damage done by an out-of-control young man

Leaside Flames PeeWee Red Select team/Flames

What fun for kids, coaches and parents of the Leaside Flames PeeWee Red Select team to bring back gold from the Canadian Cup in Montreal last weekend. The proud coach is Daniel McFadden who was tweeting his thanks to players, families and team coaches.

Leaside Cross Country girls/Helen Panayiotou

This great picture from coach Helen Panayiotou (Mrs Panayiotou in the halls of Leaside High) shows the determined girls of her winning cross country team at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) competition near Sudbury on November 2. Chloe Coutts had her shoe accidentally pulled off by another runner’s boot. Chloe courageously ran on without it to glorious victory. Her dad helped Chloe patch up her bleeding foot and carried her to the car for the ride home. Hat’s off to Chloe.

Wildcats FUNdraiser Friday night

Hammerhead crane goes up on Bayview/Bulldog

Tallest Christmas tree in Leaside is on Bessborough

Friday, November 22, the Leaside Wildcats are supporting the first annual Leaside on Ice FUNdraiser at Leaside Arena. The funds raised are a step in accelerating repayment of provincial and City loans used to help build the second ice pad. Bid on the silent auction from Friday through to Sunday at 5 p.m. At centre, the Hammerhead crane now in place at the Brown Group site on Bayview Ave. means the seven-story mixed-use project will soon begin to rise above ground. At right, Realtor Patrick Rocca is the proud owner of what is surely the tallest Christmas tree in Leaside. It is now lighted and spectacular on his Bessborough Drive lawn.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Mike Babcock and replaced him with Sheldon Keefe. Babcock had a record of 9-10-4 in 2019-20 for the struggling Leafs, who are 0-5-1 in their last six games, including five straight losses in regulation. “Mike has played an integral role in changing the direction of our franchise,” team president Brendan Shanahan said in a statement Wednesday. “Mike’s commitment and tireless work ethic has put our organization in a better place and we are extremely grateful and appreciative of the foundation he has helped us build here.

Hired to rebuild

Toronto, which currently sits two points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, fell 4-2 to the Golden Knights in Vegas on Tuesday. Babcock’s last win for the Leafs, on Nov. 7 against Vegas, was the 700th of his NHL career. He has a career record of 700-418-19 with Toronto, Detroit and Anaheim. Hired as part of a massive rebuild in the spring of 2015, the 56-year-old Babcock went 173-133-45 in his four-plus seasons with Toronto. He joined the Leafs with an impressive resume, having won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008 and back-to-back Olympic gold medals with Canada in 2010 and 2014

Here is the new Liberal cabinet. Chrystia Freeland, the member for Univerity-Rosedale (UR) has been appointed deputy prime minister.

• Chrystia Freeland: deputy prime minister and minister of intergovernmental affairs.
• Anita Anand, a new member of cabinet: minister of public services and procurement.
• Navdeep Bains: minister of innovation, science and industry.
• Carolyn Bennett: minister of Crown-Indigenous relations.
• Marie-Claude Bibeau: minister of agriculture and agri-food.
• Bill Blair: minister of public safety and emergency preparedness.
• Bardish Chagger: minister of diversity, inclusion and youth.
• Francois-Philippe Champagne: minister of foreign affairs.
• Jean-Yves Duclos: president of the Treasury Board.
• Mona Fortier, a new member of cabinet: minister of middle class prosperity and associate minister of finance.
• Marc Garneau: minister of transport.
• Karina Gould: minister of Iinternational development.
• Steven Guilbeault, a new member of cabinet: minister of Canadian heritage.
• Patty Hajdu: minister of health.
• Ahmed Hussen: minister of families, children and social development.
• Melanie Joly: minister of economic development and official languages.
• Bernadette Jordan: minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
• David Lametti: minister of justice and attorney general.
• Dominic LeBlanc: president of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
• Diane Lebouthillier: minister of national revenue.
• Lawrence MacAulay: minister of veterans affairs and associate minister of defence.
• Catherine McKenna: minister of infrastructure and communities.
• Marco E. L. Mendicino, a new member of cabinet: minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.
• Marc Miller, a new entry to cabinet: minister of Indigenous services.
• Maryam Monsef: minister of women and gender equality and rural economic development.
• Bill Morneau: minister of finance.
• Joyce Murray: minister of digital government.
• Mary Ng: minister of small business, export promotion and international trade.
• Seamus O’Regan: minister of natural resources.
• Carla Qualtrough: minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion.
• Pablo Rodriguez: leader of the government in the House of Commons.
• Harjit Sajjan: minister of national defence.
• Deb Schulte, a new member of cabinet: minister of seniors.
• Filomena Tassi: minister of labour.
• Dan Vandal, a new member of cabinet: minister of northern affairs.
• Jonathan Wilkinson: minister of environment and climate change.

Proposed residential infill looking southeast on Randolph

Click to read about consultation meeting December 3, 2019

A community consultation meeting is scheduled for December 3 in the library at St. Anselm Catholic School at 182 Bessborough Drive starting at 6.30 p.m.

Lowe’s will close 34 underperforming stores across six provinces as part of a restructuring of its Canadian business. Five of the stores are in the GTA and four others scattered across the province. In total, the closures include 26 Ronas, six Lowe’s and two Reno-Depots spread across British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The closures will leave at least some employees out of work and although efforts will be made to get them jobs at other stores.  It appears the move is rooted in the need to upgrade online service on a world of Amazon and related Canadian competition like Canadian Tire.

Five stores in GTA (Click to read)

Tuesday’s StarMetro subway tabloid

The Toronto Star (TorStar) is shutting down its StarMetro commuter newspapers across Canada. An internal memo Tuesday said final print editions in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax will be published December 20. The reason for the end of publication is commuter preferences for smartphones, laptops and tablets to access their news,” Bob Hepburn said in an email. As the owners of the Washington Express subway tab snarled in September: “Hope you enjoy your stinkin’ phones.” The email sent to staff by Torstar president and CEO John Boynton stated: “print advertising volumes have decreased significantly in recent months to levels below those required to make them commercially viable.” It seems as many as 73 employees would be “affected” by the closures.

A set of dual wheels came flying off of a UPS truck and struck vehicles on Highway 407 in Markham Tuesday. The hurtling projectile slammed into a convertible causing it to roll over as it headed for the ditch. The scary incident occurred in the eastbound lanes near Leslie St about 11 a.m. The driver of the Chrysler ragtop is recovering from the experience. OPP Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said UPS has been charged with the careless maintenance offense related to detached wheels.

A woman aged 47 has sustained life-threatening injuries in an after-dark hit and run accident on Midland Ave. Monday evening. She was crossing Midland east to west near Duxbury Dr., south of Steeles Ave. E. The presumed hit and run motorist fled the scene in a dark-colored SUV. However, Toronto Paramedic Services told CP24 the woman may have been struck by more than one vehicle. One driver did remain at the scene.

Classic 4-lane road folly

The above report from Carl Hantske tells again of the classic folly of getting stuck in the middle of a dark four-lane road where drivers are literally unable to see you because of other traffic. There are no pedestrian crossing opportunities in the estimated 1,200 metres between lights at Passmore Rd. and Steeles Ave. Deeply dangerous.